The Forest Of Deception
by DoggoTW
Summary: It all started when Peach got the idea to take many of her friends out on a hike into the infamous Gorgeclink Forest. During the trip, while deep into the forest, their navigator is found dead, and only one of them could have done it. Now, they must try to survive as one of their own tracks and hunts them down, with only two options. Live or Die.
1. The Call (Prologue)

It was just an average day in the Mushroom Kingdom.

Princess Peach sat on her stool, reading a book titled, "The Anatomy of a Mushroom." She let out a long sigh of boredom and closed her book. She then got an idea.

"Toad!" She had called out, waiting for her loyal servant to arrive.

"Yes, Princess?" He replied, running around the corner, breathing a little heavily as he stopped.

Peach looked down at him, trying her hardest not to giggle. Toad was always... "Interesting," unlike any of the usual toads. She thought about whether or not this decision was a good idea.

"Could you dial all of our friends, and let them know they are invited to go on a hike in Gorgeclink Forest?" She asked, knowing the reaction she'd get to yet another special event. She had only recently hosted Daisy's surprise party.

Toad thought it wasn't a bad idea until he realized she had said, everyone. "E-Even Bowser?" He asked, fearfully, tapping his foot softly in fear.

"Hmmm... Sure, why not? It wouldn't hurt to invite him to something for once." She told Toad, who reluctantly nodded, then dashed off towards the phone room, tripping Yellow Toad in the process. As soon as he was out of sight, she burst out laughing. After what seemed to be around 10 minutes of laughing, she finally stood up and walked over to her balcony, which stood near the top of the castle. She could see the entirety of Toad Town from this view, with the large, dense GorgeClink Forest a little-ways behind it.

"This is going to be a lot of fun." She mumbled under her breath, chuckling after those words. Toad stood behind her, with a confused look on his face. But, the princess was always like this, so he learned to not question it.

"U-Um, Princess, the calls have been sent." He spoke, making the princess jump.

"O-Oh Toad! You scared me there, I thought you were somebody else." She said, smiling. Toad couldn't help but smile back. "So, who's all coming?" She asked him.

"Let's see, Mario and Luigi, Daisy, Yoshi and Birdo, Toadette, Rosalina, Wario, and Waluigi, Bowser, and Jr, he said he's bringing a couple close minions, too. There's also Pauline, Donkey Kong, Diddy, and Dixie." He told the Princess, after looking at the list. "We're going to need an experienced navigator to help us get through Gorgeclink Forest safely. Bowser told me he'd have that covered." Toad spoke to the Princess, who nodded.

"Alright, then it's settled then! Did you tell them what Time?" She asked.

"Yeah, 4:30 P.M. I told them to bring snacks and such as well." He replied.

Princess Peach nodded, then walked away from the balcony, which Toad closed the doors to. It was going to be a fun day, everyone thought. Little did they know, it was going to go horribly wrong.


	2. The Hike (Chapter 1)

Each guest that was invited had their preparations.

Mario sat on his porch, waiting for the Delivery Toad to come by and hand him his mail. When the Toad came by, he handed him his mail. "Have a good day, Mario!" He said, then retreated out of the yard, heading off to the next house.

He picked up the box given to him, and walked inside. "Hey, Luigi! I think your new weird Ghost-Vacuum is here!" He called out. The younger brother ran down the stairs and nearly crashed into Mario, stopping right in front of him.

"Finally! It's been like 2 months since Professor Gadd told me he'd send it! It apparently has some sort of feature that sends the ghosts off into another dimension, I'm really excited!" Luigi continued to ramble on, but Mario wasn't ever fascinated by Luigi's ghostly gadgets. It just never appealed to him.

"Did you get your stuff for the hike today?" He asked.

Luigi thought about it for a second. "Yes, it's all in a backpack upstairs! I'm going to take this bad boy with me, too. You never know what's going to be in Gorgeclink Forest. I heard there's wild Chain Chomps out there that run loose."

"And You think some sort of vacuum is going to keep those giant Chain Chomps away?" Mario asked, picking at Luigi, who scowled at him.

"Let's just go," Luigi stated, signaling Mario to follow him out the door, which he did.

* * *

Daisy kept thinking about it. She had always been terrible out in the wilderness, but she just couldn't let Peach down. Peach was her closest friend, and had recently held her surprise birthday party, so she had to return the favor.

"Alright Daisy, you can do this. You'll do fine. It's just a hiking trip, nothing bad is going to happen," She continued to tell her herself. Daisy was dressed in a tank top and some orange shorts, her usual outside gear or gear for when she competed in sports tournaments. She got her supplies for the trip and headed out on the way to the meeting place near the forest.

* * *

Yoshi sat on his bed, trying to get some peace while packing his items for the trip. All his siblings constantly pestered him with problems. Whether it was something they wanted, getting in an argument, breaking something, or asking him for permission, it never ended. He was the oldest out of the unique family he was a part of. The reason it was unique was due to the fact that there was 9 in his family, all lined up in a color pattern. White, Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Black. He was Green, but was somehow the oldest in the family. He took out his phone and texted Birdo.

"Hey Birdo, you all set for the trip?" He texted, waiting for a response while he zipped up his bag.

"Yes, Yoshi. You're always so serious about these things. You should just relax, sometimes." She responded.

"Well, can't exactly do that when I have 8 younger siblings. Anyways, I'll see you there." He put his phone up afterward.

"Hey, I'm going on a hike with my friends! Orange, you're in charge!"

Orange, the second oldest brother gave a thumbs up, while the other siblings mumbled and spoke words such as "Why can't I be in charge?" and "No fair."

* * *

Toad and Toadette sat in the castle, waiting for Peach to give them the thumbs up on when to leave. Toadette was checking over Toad, making sure he was all ready for the trip, while he just made a small scowl. Toad hated when she was like this, but, she could easily overpower him or any other Toad, so he didn't bother trying to pull away.

"There you are, all nice and ready for the trip!" She said, proud of her work on Toad. He was wearing a bow-tie, looking very displeased. He never wore ties of any kind. They made him feel really uncomfortable.

"Toad, Toadette! You coming?" Peach called out from the doorway, getting both of their attention.

"Coming, Princess!" They said together, running towards the doorway where Peach waited. Toad threw off his bow-tie in the process.

* * *

Rosalina looked at herself in the mirror. She was checking to make sure her hair was fine, and her dress was not wrinkled. She confirmed that she was fine, and went towards the door of her "Space Palace." She said her goodbyes to Luma, and exited out, heading down to the planet below.

* * *

Wario and Waluigi were ready to cause mischief. They had packed all sorts of things they knew would make the others angry, annoyed, or just want to get away from them in general. They had saved up collecting bob-ombs for an event like this, and they were excited to be able to use them.

"Hey, Waluigi, where'd you put the Bob-ombs?" Wario asked, narrowing his eyes.

"I left them outside next to the fireplace, why?" Waluigi responded, then realized what he had done.

Both the troublemakers ran over towards the fireplace, which was right outside the house, and the bucket of bob-ombs had been detonated. The two started panicking, screaming, and running in circles. Waluigi took the bucket and chucked it off the cliff their house was by, and it exploded mid-air.

"Well great. Now we'll have to act _normal_ there." Wario said, breathing hard after running in many circles.

"It's better than dying," Waluigi responded.

"Whatever, let's just go," Wario replied, and the two, like many others, went off towards the forest, mischief free.

* * *

Donkey Kong was walking along the trail from DK Jungle, with Diddy and Dixie on his giant, muscular shoulders, Dixie and Diddy carried the items, while Pauline followed behind.

"Hey, Donkey Kong, do you know how much longer it's going to be before we get there?" Diddy had asked like a small child would ask, "Are we there yet?" On long car trips.

"It's going to take around another half hour, so be patient, Diddy." Donkey Kong replied, not stopping in the process. Dixie just smiled and admired the scenery. Pauline finally decided to speak.

"Don't you think it's a little bit fishy that Princess Peach all of the sudden invites _us_ to an event she's hosting? She's never done this before, and never invited us. It's either because she finally changed and is giving us a chance, or is planning something," She said in a serious manner.

"It's fine, Pauline, I'm sure it's nothing." Donkey Kong replied, as Pauline shook her head and the 4 continued down the trail.

* * *

Bowser was gathered outside his castle, with his son, Bowser Jr, King Boo, Boo, Koopa Troopa, and Dry Bones, and the navigator, Shy Guy.

"Are you ready to go? I don't want to wait any longer to see my precious Princess," Bowser said, practically already turning on his airship.

"Yes, sir. I think we're all ready for takeoff," King Boo replied, making sure the others were all packed up and ready.

"You guys will not cause any problems, this is the first chance I've gotten to come to one of her events, got it?" Bowser said, thinking whether or not it was a good idea to bring his companions and his son, just for the sake of upholding his reputation, the little he had.

"We promise, sir."

"Alright, now get in the airship."

The seven boarded the airship, and got ready to head out.

* * *

Peach, Toad, and Toadette waited at the entrance of the forest for the others to arrive. They arrived one by one, or in groups. Mario and Luigi came, then Daisy, then Yoshi, then Rosalina, followed by Birdo, Wario and Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Diddy, Dixie, and Pauline, and then Bowser and his gang.

"Why, hello everyone!" Peach said as her greeting whenever another person arrived.

"So, what's the occasion for this event?" Yoshi asked, in a confused manner. He still questioned as to why she was hosting this.

"Well, I've been kind of bored lately, so I thought something like this would be fun!" She replied.

Yoshi nodded in agreement, wondering whether or not his siblings would burn down the house while he was gone. Shy Guy stepped forward, with his compass, map, and cute little hat on, and gathered up everyone.

"Now now, does everyone have all their belongings together?" The cluster nodded.

"And, have you taken care of the bathroom?" He asked, not wanting to. Dry Bones ran off, returning in a few minutes.

"Then, we're all ready to go! Let's move out!" He said, anticipated for the adventure ahead, and walked down the path, motioning everyone to follow.

* * *

 _(Time Skip : 2 Hours Later)_

By now, everyone was pretty tired. Shy Guy had gone up ahead to set up the camp, since it was only about 3 miles up, while Donkey Kong had led the group down the appropriate way. They were at least halfway into the forest by now.

"How much longer do you think it's going to take, Daisy?" Luigi had asked the princess, who looked at him.

"I'm guessing around 20 more minutes, why do you ask? Wait... You're not complaining, are you?" She had asked.

"No, of course not, Daisy. I'm just curious." Luigi had said, lying straight to her face.

"Oh all right then. Hey, Peach!" Daisy called, diverting Peach's attention from her conversation with Rosalina.

"Yes, Daisy?"

"Do you know how large the campgrounds are?" She asked.

"They're real big. Big enough for like, 40 people at maximum." Peach replied. Daisy nodded, and the Peach went back to her conversation, Daisy starting to admire the scenery. But, after around 5 more minutes of walking, It started to rain, washing away the dirt roads of the forest.

"Does that mean we're lost?" Koopa asked.

"No, Shy Guy still has the map. We'll be fine," Peach replied. Koopa nodded. Around 5 more minutes, Donkey Kong gathered everyone's attention with a large shout.

Shy Guy lay there in a pool of blood, the map nor compass anywhere to be found.


	3. The Split (Chapter 2)

**List Of Characters (Strikeout = Dead)**

 **Mario**  
 **Luigi**  
 **Peach**  
 **Daisy**  
 **Rosalina**  
 **Yoshi**  
 **Birdo**  
 **Toad**  
 **Toadette**  
 **Wario**  
 **Waluigi**  
 **Donkey Kong**  
 **Diddy Kong**  
 **Dixie Kong**  
 **Pauline**  
 **Bowser**  
 **Bowser Jr.**  
 **King Boo**  
 **Boo**  
 **Koopa Troopa**  
 **Dry Bones**

* * *

The panic in the situation was very bad.

The navigator was dead, the dirt roads that led back were gone, and they had no way of navigating their way back. They were stranded.

"What are we going to do!?" and "We're going to die out here!" Were among many of the phrases spoken. Peach took a stand, getting on top of a stump where a tree used to be.

"It's ok, everyone! This was probably just a wild animal attack, I'm sure this won't happen again." She said, trying to reassure the panicking hikers.

"Or, someone could have attacked him! But, either way, there's still something or someone hunting us!" Birdo had replied to Peach's efforts to calm them down. Yoshi nodded in agreement.

"Well, if that's the case... We should split up and look for clues!" Peach said.

"Are you serious? You know that's like the dumbest decision to make in this scenario, don't you watch horror movies!?" Pauline said, anxious to get out of the forest. Everyone looked at her as if she was crazy, knowing only that kind of stuff happened in horror movies.

"Anyways, we should split into 4 groups. Each group will head out to a specific location tomorrow morning since it's already late tonight. Now, we should keep moving to at least find the campgrounds."

The group continued along the path, Bowser carrying Shy Guy's body with them to do a proper burial.

* * *

Once the group arrived at the campgrounds, Peach opened the bushes to where it was.

"Here we are!" She called out, leaving the bushes for everyone to go in. Bowser took Shy Guy over to a flat patch of dirt. King Boo handed him the shovel that he had brought. Bowser dug a hole in the ground, placed the body in, and covered it back up with dirt. The others gathered around to say their goodbyes to the poor victim of the crime. Once that was over, the campers had gone into their tents and went to sleep. There were 7 tents. One by one, they slowly drifted asleep.

* * *

 _(Time Skip : 2:30 A.M.)_

Wario arose from his sleep with a yawn. He didn't care that if he was being loud, he'd wake up anyone else. Wario got up from his sleeping bag and walked out of the tent. He looked around for the outhouse. He spotted it after wandering around the campgrounds mindlessly for a few minutes. He walked inside and closed the door. The wind was blowing at around 10 miles per hour at this time. There were trees all around the large campgrounds. Wario heard scratching coming from outside.

"What's that?" He mumbled to himself. "It's either the trees scratching the outside or Waluigi playing a prank on me." He just continued to ignore it. The scratching happened again, over and over, getting louder and louder, while Wario sat in confusion.

"Did the winds pick up or...?" He muttered once more. He opened the door and walked outside of the wooden shack. He looked at the side of the outhouse. It was covered in scratch marks, done by something extremely sharp. He looked over at the nearby limbs on the tree. They were sharp, so he let out a sigh of relief. He began walking back towards his cabin when a rustle came from the bushes.

"Who's there? Waluigi, you better not be pulling some sort of joke on me, because it's not funny." Wario said, frustrated, and began to stomp back to the tent. Halfway there, the bushes rustle again, getting his attention.

"Oh, Waluigi, if that's you, you're so dead," Wario said, stomping over to the bushes. He opened the bushes. His chest began to feel on fire, as if something had impaled through him. The last thing heard of him was the sound of his yelling.

* * *

Daisy woke up. She was the first awake out of all the campers. She looked at her watch. It was 6:00 A.M. She opened up the tent, and walked to the center of the campgrounds, took out her air-horn and her megaphone, and blew the air-horn into the megaphone. Moans erupted from the tents. Mario emerged from the tent, a little frustrated.

"Daisy, what's the deal with this? It's like, 6 in the morning!" He said, marching up to her.

"Well, Peach said in the morning. It's morning now, besides, this is when I usually wake up. I mean, when you're out in the wilderness with something that killed an innocent Shy Guy, you gotta be alert, Mario."

"You're still concerned about that?" He replied. "Like we said, it was most likely just a wild animal attack, it's nothing to worry about. Besides, it probably won't attack us in a big group."

"Guys, Wario is missing!" Waluigi had said, emerging from his tent.

"What do you mean?" Peach said, coming out from her tent, followed by Rosalina. Yoshi, Birdo, Dry Bones, and Luigi had also come out of their tents. The rest stayed in there, due to them being heavy sleepers.

"I mean he wasn't in the tent this morning when we woke up." Waluigi said, wondering where his friend could've gone.

"There's a few things," Yoshi said, nudging his way into the conversation. "He could be in the bathroom, or could've gone for a walk, or ditched us an tried to find his way out of the forest."

"Ok, Wario wouldn't leave without me, and he's not stupid enough to get himself separated from everyone else while being lost in the forest. He doesn't go on walks, either. You can tell just by his body structure. Don't tell him I said that." Waluigi responded.

"Then, let's go check the outhouse," Yoshi replied. Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Birdo, Rosalina, Waluigi, and Dry Bones walked over to where the outhouse was, shocked by the sight of Wario's dead body.

"What happened!?" Birdo screamed.

"He's... dead." Peach said, Luigi squinting at those words.

"I'm starting to get a feeling that this isn't some wild animal, but someone is actively trying to pick us off one by one," Yoshi said, trying to piece together the puzzle.

"What do you mean, Yoshi?" Daisy said.

"Well, first off, when Shy Guy went up ahead to set up the camp for us, which he did because it was already set up, on his way back, the killer had the perfect opportunity to get rid of him. You noticed how the map and compass were gone? The killer probably took them, getting us lost. The rain was just a chance of bad luck."

"Yoshi, I get your point, but, how did the killer manage to pull away from the group without anyone noticing?" Rosalina had finally said.

"We were all so drowsy and tired, nobody probably even noticed they left," Yoshi replied.

"Then that means... I invited a killer!" Peach said, regretting what she had done. "We should wake up all the others, and start heading out to find some sort of trail or path that leads us out of here." The rest of them nodded, and went off to the other tents, waking up the other sleeping campers.

* * *

The twenty remaining campers sat around the campfire, which was not actively burning at the moment.

"Ok, everyone!" King Boo announced. "Since I'm the most organized, I'd like to think, I'll be placing us into 4 groups. 5 people will be in each group. Group 1's leader will be Mario. Yoshi, Koopa, Boo and myself with go with him." King Boo moved the appropriate people into one group, besides himself. "Donkey Kong will lead group 2. Birdo, Waluigi, Daisy, and Diddy will go with him. Peach will lead group 3, with Pauline, Bowser Jr, Luigi and Dry Bones. Bowser will lead the last group with Dixie, Rosalina, Toad, and Toadette." King Boo got the rest of the groups organized. "Good luck, be back at around 6:00, and tell us about anything you find." He said, then the groups split off into their own directions, ready to find things they might regret seeing.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hey guys, thanks for reading this fan-fiction! If you want, predict who you think the killer is! I'll be keeping track in the author's note after each chapter. Dead people are not the killer if you don't know. Thanks for the support!_

 _-Doggo_


	4. The Waterway (Chapter 3)

Well. Seems like I've finally returned after what's seemed to be a year or two. It's been quite awhile. Let's go ahead and get back into this. It is recommended you do not skip any chapters to be spoiled by the list of alive and dead characters below.

* * *

 **List of Characters:**

 ** _Group 1:_**

 _ **Mario  
** **Yoshi**_ _ **  
Boo**_ _ **  
King Boo**_ _ **  
Koopa Troopa**_ _ **  
**_

 _ **Group 2:**_

 _ **Donkey Kong**_  
 _ **Birdo**_  
 _ **Diddy Kong**_  
 _ **Daisy**_  
 _ **Waluigi**_

 _ **Group 3:**_

 _ **Peach**_  
 _ **Pauline**_  
 _ **Dry Bones**_  
 _ **Bowser Jr.**_  
 _ **Luigi**_

 _ **Group 4:**_

 _ **Bowser**_  
 _ **Dixie Kong**_  
 _ **Toad**_  
 _ **Toadette**_  
 _ **Rosalina**_

 _ **Graveyard:**_

 **|#10| (Chapter 2)  
**

* * *

Perhaps it was a bit... absurd to believe that this camping trip could go anywhere but wrong. The forest was deep in greens, browns, and the occasional glistening blue water running through the forest that animals used to feed off of.

The forest had a name. Gorgeclink Forest. Named after the two most iconic things that made the forest different from others. Deep, deep gorges with gigantic mushrooms that could possibly save someone that happened to fall into the gorge by bouncing them back up... and the chain chomps. Massive chain chomps that roamed wild and free, without a care. Needless to say, they weren't friendly, and especially during Spring, they got vicious and potentially deadly.

Peach thought Spring would've been a perfect time to go out on a camping trip. Inviting a lot of her friends, and even some of her "arc enemies" out on a trip deep into the woods to see luscious plant life, flourishing animals, and beautiful waterfalls that fell down into the massive chasms that opened up in the ground in many different places.

However, after the recent events following the initial hike out into the woods, whether it was the two murders, the fact that everyone was lost in what was declared one of the most dangerous forests in the entire world, or the fact that she felt like this was entirely her fault, plagued her mine. Perhaps it wasn't _entirely_ her fault, right? There's no way she could've predicted that someone would have killed their navigation guide and that it would've rained and washed out the several paths they had taken to get to their campground in the first place.

Peach looked down at her watch. 10:30 A.M. This means her and her group had 7-and-a-half hours to look around for any signs of an exit, and then get back to the campgrounds to report their findings. She turned around and glanced towards Luigi, who had the same cowardly look on his face that he always did. Even if he was a coward, he had the ability to save people in dire times of need. Like the time Mario was stuck inside that haunted mansion. Luigi was a coward, but he had the heart to admit that he was also brave.

Pauline had never had a good impression of Peach. Perhaps it was the fact that Peach wasn't very... "interactive" with her best, and closest friends, the Kongs. The two didn't hate each other, but Peach wanted to figure out why Pauline wasn't too fond of her, and maybe she could bond with her if things went well.

Dry Bones and Bowser Jr. followed behind. Dry Bones was a pretty common creature, but she could tell that this specific one was far more intelligent and logical when it came to making intellectualized-based decisions. Bowser Jr, of course, was Bowser's son. She had to keep a close watch on him, because there was a great chance that if something happened to him, Bowser would cause more trouble than everyone needed right now.

She turned back around, glancing among the giant trees that loomed over everyone, with jagged branches out as if the trees were ready to engulf everyone in one swift bite. Then she heard it. A sound. Finally! The group hadn't muttered a word to each other since they were put together by King Boo and had left the campgrounds.

Peach's group had to take a southeast direction from their base campout. A river was exactly what she had wanted to hear. A river had flowed through Peach's "backyard" of the castle, and it came from the woods. One of the rivers out here would be a way to get back home. She motioned everyone to come over to the river.

"Look, a river! This could be our way back home!" Peach exclaimed, happy that something finally happened. Pauline stared at her with one narrowed eyebrow.

"Did you try looking around beside the river?" She asked. Peach looked around and noticed that this "river" led nowhere. It wasn't even a river. It was just a channel of water that circled around in a loop at extreme speeds as if it was being pushed around by something.

Dry Bones stepped forward. "This isn't a natural occurrence. There has to be something below the water that's pushing it around in circles." He said. Before anyone could respond, he ran towards the water and dived in, swimming in a downward direction. The others waited patiently for him to come back up.

But, he didn't. Around 10 minutes had passed, and he still hadn't come back up. The others started to panic. Did he drown? Did he get caught on something? Luigi peered over the wide gap of the circular waterway. He noticed something moving. Was that Dry Bones? Before he could react, white, bony hands came up from the water and pulled Luigi straight down into it. The two females and Bowser Jr. looked over and started panicking even more.

Much to their relief, both Dry Bones and Luigi came up above the water a few seconds later.

"There's something you have to see down here. My apologies for taking so long, but this discovery is huge." Dry Bones said. Luigi nodded.

The two headed back underwater. Bowser Jr. quickly followed them.

"Well, princess? You going to go, or are you too afraid to get your hair wet?" Pauline snarked at her, diving into the water. Peach picked up her dress, scowling at the comment she just heard and dived in right after. The bushes rustled around the circular waterway, and a small device fell out, aimed right at the waterway. It appeared to be a camera. Someone was filming them.

* * *

Down below the depths of the water was a glass hatch that could be opened and closed. Dry Bones signaled the others over, then opened the hatch and swam through, followed by the other four. He shut the hatch as the water drained through a pipe and was spurted right back into the circular waterway.

"Why would it do that?" Peach asked.

"Perhaps it's a power generator for some sort of mechanism in this door right behind us, or it's for somewhere else." Dry Bones replied. He seemed to know a lot about this whole situation. How would he have just discovered this room down here? It was at least 15 feet below the surface of what seemed to be a shallow river.  
How would he have known that there was a drain pipe that could've been powering something? It just didn't add up to Peach. She was getting very suspicious.

Dry Bones opened up the door that stood behind the group on the marble-coated tiles on the floor. It reminded Peach of the pool locker rooms. The tiny carved squares of tile into the floor, the wet and damp atmosphere, and feeling that there was always someone else nearby. It gave her an eerie feeling. The group walked into the unlit room in front of them. It was pitch black, so how were they supposed to see?

A crashing sound was heard. "Owie, I hit my head on _something_!" Bowser Jr. exclaimed in a wince of pain. Peach walked over to him using the location of his voice and picked it up. It felt cylinder-like, with a wider circumference the higher up she placed her hands on the object. She felt a button and pressed it. It was a flashlight. She pointed it towards a nearby light switch and turned on the lights.

As soon as the lights went on, everyone's jaws dropped. This was a major discovery... and a major problem.


	5. The Trials (Chapter 4)

**List of Characters:**

 ** _Group 1:_**

 _ **Mario  
Yoshi  
Boo  
King Boo  
Koopa Troopa**_

 _ **Group 2:**_

 _ **Donkey Kong**_  
 _ **Birdo**_  
 _ **Diddy Kong**_  
 _ **Daisy**_  
 _ **Waluigi**_

 _ **Group 3:**_

 _ **Peach**_  
 _ **Pauline**_  
 _ **Dry Bones**_  
 _ **Bowser Jr.**_  
 _ **Luigi**_

 _ **Group 4:**_

 _ **Bowser**_  
 _ **Dixie Kong**_  
 _ **Toad**_  
 _ **Toadette**_  
 _ **Rosalina**_

 _ **Graveyard:**_

 **|#10| (Chapter 2)  
**

* * *

Peach and the others stared at the discovery horrified. Yoshi's suspicions had been right. Portraits of everyone had been strung across the room in a circle. They seemed to had been taken a long time ago. It seemed almost as if this was entirely set up from the beginning before Peach had even decided to invite everyone on the campout.

Peach looked at Wario's portrait. It had been crossed out in the bright red paint that was stored in cans in an open cabinet a little ways away. Several other doors loomed over the others around the room. A powered-down machine sat right next to the cabinet that contained the paint. A glass tube filled with water pumped in and out of it.

"See, I guess it is a power generator." Dry Bones said, examining the machine a bit in further detail. Pauline looked around the room with a serious expression.

"Let's look around and see if we can find anything. Then, we should check out what's in these other rooms." She told everyone else. Dry Bones nodded, continuing to examine the machine. Pauline began lifting up the paintings, and sure enough, she found something. Behind every painting. Every single one of them had the base idea of what their weaknesses were.

 **Peach's Weakness: Aloof; Overthinks things/doesn't notice others.**

 **Pauline's Weakness: On-point; Easily distracted by movements.**

 **Bowser Jr.'s Weakness: Whiny; Can be easily scared.**

 **Luigi's Weakness: Cowardly; Afraid to step up.**

 **Dry Bones' Weakness: Critical; Too detailed and logical.**

Peach eyed her weakness. It was right, but how did they know? Had all these people been spied on? Whoever set this up _definitely_ had been planning this for a long time. While Peach continued to think about that, Pauline counted the number of paintings.

"There's only got to be 20, meaning whoever doesn't have a painting is our culprit," she said while counting. When she finished, she looked towards the floor. "There's 21. Whoever set this up made it to whereupon discovery, their identity couldn't be figured out." Pauline sighed.

She went over to Wario's painting, which hadn't been looked at yet. She upturned it and found his weakness: **Large; low stamina.** Beside it was an outlet and electrical cord. She plugged it in, and the machine in the room powered on. She turned around and looked at it.

It began to fizzle and shake violently as if it were going to explode. An unidentified voice came on in the room from a speaker somewhere that couldn't be identified.

"It seems as if you've discovered my secret hideout. Well, well, that's great! You can report your findings!... If you make it out alive, of course. The door behind you has triggered to be locked. Find a key, or you all go boom in 75 seconds!" The audit said. The recorder laughed, then stopped the recording.

Pauline dashed for the nearby room, which had tons of boxes. "Guys, the key's got to be in here! Someone, help me!" She exclaimed. She started digging through the boxes as Peach, Luigi, and Bowser Jr. ran to help her. Dry Bones stared at the timer and back to the machine, trying to piece together the puzzle.

65, 64, 63...

He looked back towards the paintings. Perhaps this was his weakness.

Pauline and the others searched drastically. They went through every box, but there was nothing.

56, 55, 54...

"The other room!" She yelled, dashing into it to reveal even more boxes. They began to search to no avail while the timer continued to tick. It kept ticking. They were getting close.

14, 13, 12...

Dry Bones thought more. It was a trick. There was no key. Perhaps his critical thinking was a weakness, but it was also his strength.

 **8, 7, 6...**

Dry Bones dashed over to Wario's painting and opened it up.

 **5, 4, 3, 2, 1...**

He lunged for the electrical cord.

* * *

Donkey Kong led Daisy, Birdo, Diddy, and Waluigi along the mountainside where their group had been told to go to. They stayed a good distance away from the cliffside to make sure that nobody accidentally slipped and plummeted to their imminent doom.

Daisy stayed close by, scanning the edge of the cliffside while Birdo looked over towards the forest from the small clearing they were in to see if there was anything to discover. She noticed a peculiar marking on the edge of the cliff and walked over in a careful manner to investigate. The cliffside had a small pathway walkaround to an opening inside a cave.

"Guys, I found something! Come check it out!" She exclaimed. She started to traverse down the small rock path while the others came over to check it out. Waluigi was a bit down from the passing of his best friend and had been silent until now.

"Daisy, that looks a bit dangerous, eh?" He said to her as she walked down until she got to the cave opening.

"Come on, don't be scared!" She said back. He shook his head and walked down with the others until they were all at the opening.

"It's kind of dark down here..." Birdo said, beginning to quiver a bit while looking around. Daisy opened up her backpack and took out a lighter and match. She picked up a nearby unburned torch and lit it up.

"Better?" She asked. Birdo nodded. Without warning, a heavy slam came from behind them. The opening had shut with metal too strong to be broken. They were trapped. In front of them were 5 rooms.

An audio recording played. "It's your turn now. Peach's group has already been subjected to a task and they may or may not all be dead."

Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong knew Pauline was in their group. "No!" They shouted. Daisy thought about Peach and Luigi.

"However, you'll have things a bit differently."

The area in front of them lit up.

"Here in front of you are 5 rooms. Each of you will be subjected to a trial of your own weaknesses. You will all have to pass your trials to move on. Afterward is a series of tricks and lies you'll have to navigate through. Find your way out of that, and you'll be given an underground tunnel to escape to. Good luck.". The same laughter from earlier was heard, and the recording ended.

Nameplates were strung across the top of the five doors. From left to right, it went Daisy, Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, Birdo, and Waluigi. All the doors proceeded to open. They all stepped towards their doors and looked at each other.

"Meet each other after. Be careful." Donkey Kong said. The others nodded, and they all stepped through their doors, which proceeded to close on them.

* * *

Daisy looked around the room that lit up in front of her. An audio recording played.

"Welcome, Daisy. Your trial is to face your deepest, darkest fears." The recording said, before abruptly ending.

A door stood on the other side. In front of her were hundreds of venomous snakes that slithered around everywhere. Everywhere except for certain spots with chemicals that kept the snakes from going on them. She figured out that she had to step on the marked off spots and make her way to the door.

She stopped in her tracks when she heard an explosion, followed by a voice recording.

 **"Waluigi has completed his trial!"**

She kept going. She heard a cracking sound from another room.

 **"Birdo has completed her trial!"**

She was almost there.

 **"Donkey Kong has completed his trial!"**

A snake slithered onto her leg, despite not liking the small open areas she was stepping on. She remained still until the snake slid off back into the sea of venomous death.

She finally reached the door and opened it, slamming it behind her.

 **"Daisy has completed her trial!"**

She regrouped to the other three while they waited for Diddy.

"What were your trials?" She asked.

"I got dumped into a pool with a hungry shark that I had to blow up before I got eaten." Waluigi replied. That explained the explosion.

"I was forced to snap the neck of a bird," Birdo said, looking at the floor in sadness. "I hate harming wildlife..." She said while Daisy came over to pat her back.

"I had to reveal secrets about others that I wasn't supposed to tell." Donkey Kong said.

"I had to walk through snakes," Daisy said.

The others continued talking until a message was broadcasted across the room.

 **"Diddy Kong has FAILED his trial!"**

The others ran over to peer into his room, which was completely filled with acid. Diddy was nowhere to be seen.

Donkey Kong fell to his knees and started crying. The others comforted him until he was stable enough to get back up.

"It's okay. He's in a better place now." Daisy told him. The four of them slowly walked into the next room.

* * *

"Remember, it's said to be filled with trickery and lies." Birdo reminded them as she noticed Donkey Kong eyeing a tape set out on a stool in a room next to them.

"Hey, I should go get that." He told them, sniffling. Birdo eyed the room more. It had a heavy-looking ceiling that looked like it was about to fall. Donkey Kong started walking towards the tape. Birdo noticed a small, nearly invisible cord that attached to the ceiling. It was all that was holding it up.

"Donkey Kong, wait!" She yelled, getting his attention. She got him to come back outside. She picked up a nearby loose rock and threw it at the stool where the tape was. The cord snapped and the ceiling fell straight to the ground.

"Oh, my!" Daisy yelled in reaction. Donkey Kong let out a sigh of relief. He almost died.

Perhaps "Lies and trickery" was just the icing on the cake.


	6. The Trust (Chapter 5)

**My sincerest apologies for the delay of the chapter. I will try not to have another delay. Can't make any promises.**

* * *

 **List of Characters:**

 ** _Group 1:_**

 _ **Mario  
Yoshi  
Boo  
King Boo  
Koopa Troopa**_

 _ **Group 2:**_

 _ **Donkey Kong**_  
 _ **Birdo**_  
 _ **Daisy**_  
 _ **Waluigi**_

 _ **Group 3:**_

 _ **Peach**_  
 _ **Pauline**_  
 _ **Dry Bones**_  
 _ **Bowser Jr.**_  
 _ **Luigi**_

 _ **Group 4:**_

 _ **Bowser**_  
 _ **Dixie Kong**_  
 _ **Toad**_  
 _ **Toadette**_  
 _ **Rosalina**_

 _ **Graveyard:**_

 **? (Chapter 2)  
? (Chapter 4)  
**

* * *

Donkey Kong, Daisy, Birdo, and Waluigi traversed through what seemed to be a maze of ever-looping walls and sounds. Someone would hear something, follow the noise, and be led towards nothing. It only led to even more frustration. Group enthusiasm continued to rapidly decline as they kept walking.

Since Donkey Kong nearly got crushed by the loose ceiling, nothing else too important happened. The group continued to walk down a long hallway when a voice came to the speaker above them. The voice was all too familiar.

"It's pretty boring down here when there's nothing to do but walk, right? Well, I'm happy to inform you that you're 65% of the way to the exit. However, it doesn't get any easier from here. In fact, it gets much harder. I'll just give you one hint... Don't make too much sound," the speaker said before viciously chuckling. The audio ended.

Daisy took an immediate realization of what the speaker meant. She leaned over and got the group together before whispering.

"I'm pretty sure there's something around this place that's triggered by noise. Make sure to stay quiet." The group nodded and kept walking.

A bit later, an ear-splitting screech was heard in the distance. Daisy immediately gathered the group together. "Scratch that, it's not an object like I thought. It's some creature that's drawn to sound. Stay extremely quiet." Daisy noticed Birdo's eyes widen as she looked behind her. Daisy turned around to look with the boys.

A tall figure stood at the end of the hallway they were in. Sudden movements were guaranteed to be a death wish.

* * *

Bowser's group had been sent to check out around a lake. He noticed a group of figures off in the distance and noticed it was Mario and his group. The two groups met up and began to share what they had found. Absolutely nothing.

Rosalina noticed a dark spot in the really light lake. She motioned the others to come to look at it. She could see something moving in the water up towards her. She assumed it was a fish. But it wasn't.

Peach popped her head out of the water, a terrified expression strewn across her face. Pauline, Dry Bones, Bowser Jr, and Luigi followed Peach out of the water, all with the same expression as Peach.

They explained what had happened, and how Dry Bones narrowly saved the group from all exploding by unplugging the machine at the last second. Seems that the time had passed by really quickly. It was nearly time to head back. The path Peach's group had found behind the machine that led to the lake was a very long one, and took a couple hours of hiking. Bowser and Mario reported their findings to Peach, who seemed a little disappointed that this plan didn't exactly work. But, hey, at least everyone was okay.

All 15 of them began to walk back. Everything was fine until the ground felt a little shaky. Nobody really thought about it as anything bad, until the "stomps" started to come. 3 massive chain chomps that inhabited the forest had come out into the clearing to come down to the lake.

They noticed the group, angrily beginning to "bark" at them. They were getting ready to charge.

"Quick, back to the campgrounds! Run!" Rosalina yelled. Everyone began running away from the chain chomps that were about to charge. Dry Bones stopped.

"Wait, there's no way we can outrun them. Get in the water! They don't have limbs, so they can't swim!" Not everyone heard him though. Toad, Toadette, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Dixie Kong, and Rosalina were the only ones to hear him.

They all dove into the water as the chain chomps began charging after Mario, Koopa Troopa, Boo, King Boo, Pauline, Bowser Jr, and Bowser.

The 7 of them didn't notice how they were beginning to split apart.

Bowser guided his son and the Boos one way while Mario led Pauline and Koopa the other way. This wasn't good at all.

Dry Bones waited until the chain chomps were gone before getting out of the water. The others got out, soaking wet.

"At least _we're_ okay," he told the rest of the group.

"I'm worried about them," Peach said. She didn't want to have anyone else die. Having 2 people die was enough.

"Speaking of being worried... I'm quite worried about Donkey Kong and his group." Dixie Kong said. "If we're under attack, there's no saying that they aren't, either."

"Good point," Yoshi said. "Perhaps we should go head towards the mountainous area where they were told to go to see if we can find them."

"What about the others?" Rosalina asked. "We need to go save them!" Hastily, she was getting pumped up to go rescue someone.

"That's not exactly a good idea. We'd be foolish to be chasing after the dangers that are chasing _our_ friends." Dry Bones told her. She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it, not knowing what to say back to him. She nodded.

"Alright, it's settled then. We'll dry off, then head out towards the area where Donkey Kong's group is." Peach told everyone else.

Whether it was a look of excitement, anxiety, or neutrality, everyone was giving off some sort of vibe.

* * *

Daisy and the others stared at this... monstrosity. Monstrosity was an understatement, at that. This tall... thing... was staring down the hallway, with large, black eyes with small white pupils. It kept staring for a minute before continuing down the hallway that had connected to the one they were currently in.

The four of them let out quiet sighs of relief. They continued to walk slowly down the hallway until they got to a split road.

"I say we go left." Daisy insisted. Birdo nodded with her. The boys shrugged and opened the left door. It was sealed off. At that very moment, an alarm blasted. Whatever that creature was definitely knew where they were now.

Donkey Kong bolted to the right door and opened it. "Go, go!" He said as the screech came from down the long hallway. The figure saw the movement of the group and gave chase.

They knew it was after them without having to look back. At the end of the hallway, there was a light. The end of the road. They were so close to escaping from this place!

The boys started gaining distance from the girls without knowing they were doing so. Donkey Kong had incredible speed, and Waluigi's long legs gave him the ability to take long strides. Daisy followed, with Birdo right behind her.

Without knowing what was going on, Daisy heard a thud from behind her, with the screeches growing ever closer. She turned around to see that Birdo had tripped.

Donkey Kong and Waluigi were at the end of the hallway. They lost all hope for her.

"Leave her, Daisy! You're only going to get both of you killed!" Donkey Kong yelled at her.

If she ran now, she could escape. But, she couldn't leave Birdo behind! She barely had any time to think. The creature kept getting closer to Birdo, an extremely hungry look present in its eyes.

Without any more thinking, Daisy started running... towards Birdo. She helped the straggler off the ground, and the two began running, the thing right on their heels.

"Come on, come on!" Donkey Kong said, holding the door open.

Daisy knew the two of them couldn't make it there together at this pace. She got an idea. She unstrapped her bag while running, got out the megaphone and airhorn from earlier, blasted the sucker, and threw the objects behind the creature.

It immediately stopped and gave chase towards the sound, giving the two time to get to the door. Donkey Kong and the girls ran out. As soon as they got out, Donkey Kong placed a metal stopper in front of the door.

The group sighed once more.

"I'm glad you're alive! Daisy, I have no idea how you managed to pull that off! You're amazing!" Donkey Kong told her. Daisy gave him a smile. Birdo glared at him.

"What?" He asked.

"What!? You really want to ask me that?" She yelled at him.

"What's your problem?" He asked, getting defensive.

"You told Daisy to abandon me! If it hadn't been for her, I would be gone, no thanks to _you_!" She told him, with a harsh voice.

Birdo turned around, steaming with anger. Daisy sighed and ran up to catch to her. Waluigi sighed as well.

"That was a terrible thing for you to do, man. I'm disappointed." Waluigi told him.

The danger was gone, but now the tensions were definitely beginning to rise. Perhaps... they could be just as bad as a monster could.


	7. The Reunions (Chapter 6)

**Sure has been awhile. 3 months. Sorry, school started up recently and it's all hectic. On the contrary, at least I'm getting another chapter out!**

* * *

 **List of Characters:**

 ** _Birdo  
_** ** _Boo  
_** ** _Bowser  
_** ** _Bowser Jr.  
_** ** _Daisy  
_** ** _Dixie Kong  
_** ** _Donkey Kong  
_** ** _Dry Bones  
_** ** _King Boo  
_** ** _Koopa Troopa  
_** ** _Luigi  
_** ** _Mario  
_** ** _Pauline  
_** ** _Peach  
_** ** _Rosalina  
_** ** _Toad  
_** ** _Toadette  
_** ** _Waluigi  
_** ** _Yoshi_**

* * *

Mario led his group around the lake. He couldn't help but feel a bit unnerved about this whole thing. The death, the mystery, the loss of hope that they'd make it out... it just felt like all this searching was for nothing. Yoshi noticed this and walked up next to him.

"Hey, it's okay to be scared. I have siblings at home that I have to take care of. I don't know what they'll do or what'll happen to them if I don't come back home. So, consider yourself lucky to still have Luigi here."

Mario looked at him. "I guess. I wish he was with us, though. But, on the other hand... I'm sure the princess knows what she's doing. If anything, I'd honestly say the princess had the best of the groups. She and Dry Bones are probably the two wittiest people to come down here. Except, maybe Rosalina." He then smiled very shyly.

Yoshi nodded and walked over to Koopa and the Boos to see how they were doing. Across the lake, Mario could see the silhouette of somebody. Large. Spiky. Oh, and a couple other silhouettes. As they walked closer towards the silhouettes, it came into view that it was Bowser's group.

Bowser noticed, and waved them over. The groups intertwined as they asked each other questions, and then realized something: Neither of them had any leads whatsoever. How disappointing. A couple hours of searching, all for nothing. They sat down for a bit, figuring out where they should try to go next.

After a long period of time, the group noticed bubbling in the water beside them. Curious, Yoshi and Rosalina went over to investigate.

Within a matter of a few seconds, Peach, Luigi, Dry Bones, Pauline, and Bowser Jr. popped their heads out from under the water, gasping for air.

"Oh my gosh, it was horrifying!" Peach began to explain after the group got out of the water. She told them everything that happened, from the portraits of all the people on the trip, to the machine about to explode.

Once Peach finished explaining, the group sat down once again to configure a plan for the upcoming few hours they had left to look around.

 _rumble._

"Did anyone else feel that?" Toad asked. Mutters amongst the others began to arise as everyone came to the conclusion that they did.

 _rumble._ _rumble._

"Okay, maybe we should get moving?" was what everyone was beginning to think.

 _rumble._ _rumble._ _rumble._ _rumble._ _rumble._ _rumble._

The 15 of them looked around in horror as they were trying to identify what was happening.

Before they knew it, the ground was starting to open up a ways away from them as two chain chomps bounced forcefully out into the clearing where they were. They were massive, but unaware of the hikers by the lake. Everyone froze in fear.

"We need to get out of here!" Pauline screeched. The chain chomps looked over in their direction immediately, barking and starting to get ready to dash towards the group, who instantly began running away. Well... at least, some of them.

"Dive into the water! They can't swim!" Dry Bones yelled. The ones who could hear him did so. Dry Bones, Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Toadette, Rosalina, Dixie Kong and Luigi dived under the water. The chain chomps were ready to run. Bowser, Bowser Jr, Boo, and King Boo reached a crossroad and went left. Mario, Pauline, and Koopa ran right without knowing where the others went, since they were looking behind them.

The chain chomps began charging. One went down the left path, while the other went down the right.

The ones who dived in the lake crawled out in horror. They had just gotten back together, just to be split apart again.

Dry Bones got up on a rock and talked to the others. "We need to go look for DK's group."

Peach gave him an odd look. "But, what about-" Dry Bones shushed her. "Do you really think we can save them? Those things are way too massive to be taken care of by us. Our best bet is to regroup with the others before nightfall."

Murmurs arose from the others around them, before Toadette stepped forward. "I agree. We're too small to help them out. We need to find Daisy and the others. They probably got lost." Within a few moments, everyone else was in agreement.

"Onward to the mountains!" They chanted.

* * *

It had felt like they had been running forever. They could hear it getting closer. They need an escape route.

Off to the right, there was an opening. A cave. Small enough to hide in.

"In there!" Mario yelled.

He safely jumped inside, followed by Pauline.

"Phew... we're safe." She sighed.

"Wait, where's Koopa?"

A scream erupted from outside. Then it went silent. There were thuds. They grew closer and closer, until they were right next to the cave. Mario and Pauline backed up. Eventually, the thuds went away and faded into silence. Mario peaked outside. Koopa was nowhere to be seen. He sighed, then turned back to Pauline.

"I'm pretty sure he didn't make it..."

They sat in silence for a while. "We should head back to the camp."

They stepped outside, and then saw footsteps going past the cave. Maybe Koopa was still alive! They located each footstep and began to follow them. They had to find him if he was still alive. They couldn't let anybody else perish. Off above the trees, smoke was rising. A fire? Is that him?

Mario and Pauline stopped. Did they follow the footsteps, or head towards the smoke? They definitely couldn't split up. That'd be a death wish. What were they going to do?

* * *

He was trying not to breathe. It was nearby. He had to stay quiet, otherwise it would find him.

* * *

This cavern was quite odd. Daisy had no idea how the 3 of them had escaped, especially considering the fact that Birdo was so close to dying. Birdo had been thanking her immensely, so she felt glad. A few more hours passed before they reached the end of the cavern, where there was another door.

Daisy pulled it open, seeing that the outside of the door looked exactly like the wall of the cavern they just exited. It had been disguised. Breathing the fresh air, the four of them stepped out into the clearing. It was nearly dark. They sat down, lighting up a fire using matches that Daisy had brought.

A few more hours had passed. It became pitch black beyond what they could see without the light. Slowly, they drifted asleep.

* * *

In the morning, Daisy awoke. She woke up Birdo and Waluigi, and then realized Donkey Kong wasn't anywhere near the campsite.

"Where did he go?" She asked them. Birdo answered immediately.

"He got up in the middle of the night."

"Wait... do you think he's up to something? That maybe he could be behind everything?" Daisy asked.

"Personally, I don't have any trouble believing he's the killer, since he wanted you to abandon me." Birdo scoffed.

"Well, there's only one way to figure that out. We need to follow his footprints and figure this all out." Daisy replied.

The three agreed and began looking for him.

* * *

The search party was looking around nooks and crannies to find Daisy and the others.

And, after awhile, they found them, much to their relief.

Eventually, they wandered over to where they had initially entered to begin their trials.

Donkey Kong could be seen heading down to where they had gotten trapped in there.

What could he be up to?

* * *

 **To make up for the lack of chapters, I will try to push out Chapter 7 as soon as possible. I had too many ideas to combine into one chapter, so expect that by next weekend at the longest.**

 **-Doggo**


	8. The Mistakes (Chapter 7)

**And here's another one. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 **List of Characters:**

 ** _Birdo  
_** ** _Boo  
_** ** _Bowser  
_** ** _Bowser Jr.  
_** ** _Daisy  
_** ** _Dixie Kong  
_** ** _Donkey Kong  
_** ** _Dry Bones  
_** ** _King Boo  
_** ** _Koopa Troopa  
_** ** _Luigi  
_** ** _Mario  
_** ** _Pauline  
_** ** _Peach  
_** ** _Rosalina  
_** ** _Toad  
_** ** _Toadette  
_** ** _Waluigi  
_** ** _Yoshi_**

* * *

Peach stepped forward to quiet down the others. "We must stay quiet, otherwise he'll hear us and know that we're following him. We got to watch what he's doing in case he's plotting something."

The group quietly sneaks down after him. Everything seems to be going smoothly.

Donkey Kong pulls out a manila packet filled with papers, and opens it. He takes out a pen and begins to write in it. Peach motions them to scoot closer to hear what he's mumbling. The group scoots closer together, until Toad gets knocked over and says "Eep!"

Donkey Kong immediately looks up, seeing them watching him, and panics. Peach lunges forward, followed by the rest of the group.

"What are you doing?" She says harshly, walking towards him as he backs up slowly.

"I... uhh... what do you mean?" He stammers.

"She means what the heck are you doing back in this place, holding this suspicious packet!?" Daisy says, walking forward past Peach. "Are you the killer? Did you kill Diddy, your own friend? Did you want me to leave Birdo behind so you could get rid of her as well!?" She yells.

"W-Wait... You don't underst-" "Give me that!" She yells as she grabs the files from Donkey Kong.

Doing this causes him to lose his balance, and before anyone can comprehend what's going on, Donkey Kong falls clean off the edge of the cliff right next to them, screaming as he plummets into the gorge below. Eventually, he falls far enough to where he can't be seen anymore, his screams slowly going quiet.

The group stands there in shock. They just killed him. What if he was innocent? What if it really was just a misunderstanding? Daisy fell to her knees, regretting what she had just done.

She looked to the group, but they understood. She was angry and afraid. She wanted to take the files, not kill him. After a long moment of silence, the group decided it would be proper to see if he was innocent.

And sure enough, he wasn't. This was a packet filled with plans, details, and even worst, a hit list. Looks like Donkey Kong really was the killer. The group began to rejoice as they realized they would be safe now. At least, they thought.

The intercom from earlier comes on. The same voice from earlier. Muffled. Non-distinguishable. Barely able to be heard.

"Well, it seems you've gotten my accomplice. Oh well. I guess it's easier to have someone else do your work. But, it's more fun to do it yourself. Just know you made a mistake, and I won't be taking you easy anymore." This time, they could hear the rage. There was no maniacal laugh. Nothing. The voice stopped. They knew whoever was in charge was **mad.**

Daisy looked at the hit list.

 **Wario (SUCCESS)  
Diddy Kong (SUCCESS)  
Birdo (FAILURE)  
Peach / Dry Bones (PROGRESSION: FIRST ATTEMPT FAILED)**

Peach and Dry Bones looked at each other as Daisy read their names next after Birdo. They were next to be victimized. And it scared them. Daisy started reading the agenda.

 **Group up everyone at the campsite, and unleash a 'surprise.'**

They knew what they needed to do. They were going to head back to the campsite and catch the culprit in action.

They had to.

* * *

Mario and Pauline sat in their tracks, unsure what to do. They had to get moving soon, in case the chain chomp came back. They would have nowhere to hide.

"Honestly, my instincts are telling me we should follow the footprints. They look like Koopa's." Mario said.

"I think it's a trap. Based on the fact that I've already seen a trap, where everything was twisted around, we should go to the smoke. What if it's Koopa?" She replied.

"Well, I think you're wrong." He responded.

"No, you're wrong." She replied.

The two began to argue over which way they should go. They were losing time. Eventually, Pauline just stood, face frozen, as Mario walked in the direction of the footprints without another word.

"This is why I don't like you or Peach." She mumbled under her breath. Mario immediately stopped. "What did you say?"

"I said, this is why I don't like you or Peach. She stole you from me, and completely changed you." She scoffed.

Mario grew sympathetic. "I'm not dating the princess. Don't worry. She didn't steal me from you. My heart doesn't belong to anyone, really." He told her. Pauline smiled kind of shyly. She looked like she was about to cry.

The two hugged. And when they finally released from each other's embrace, they heard a thud.

"Head to the smoke. It looks closer." He told her. Without another word, the two both rushed towards the smoke.

* * *

Mario and Pauline entered the clearing. A fire was lit in the center. It was empty.

Oh no, this looked like a trap. Mario's instincts told him to run.

However, in a second or so, the bushes started rumbling. Mario stood in front of Pauline, ready to guard her.

But it wasn't a trap.

It was just Bowser and the Boos. Bowser looked broken.

"Oh, thank lord, it's you guys." Pauline said, rushing over for hugs. But, she walked right through Boo, who chuckled.

"So you lost someone, too." Bowser said.

"Koopa's lost, yes. We're not sure if he's dead or alive." She responded. "Wait, what do you mean, too?"

Bowser put his head down. _Bowser Jr._

"He refused to run anymore. They... they got him." Bowser broke down. Before anyone could consult and comfort him, an ear-splitting screech went off. They looked around. Boo and King Boo flew up to survey the area real quick. They came back with nothing.

For once, Mario sat aside his differences with the king and talked to him. Pauline and the Boos stood back.

"What happened?" She asked.

Boo looked at King Boo.

"Alright, bleh... We were running. Or, more like they were running. Jr. decided he was tired and didn't want to run anymore. We looked around as he sat down, crossing his arms and scoffing at us. We begged him to get up as Bowser started rushing over. But then, he just stopped. The chomp was getting closer, and it looked like he knew he couldn't save him. Boo and I tried to distract the chomp, but it didn't notice us, and so we left too." King boo looked over to Bowser. "The poor guy. It must be hard to lose your own son just because he was stubborn." King boo shrugged.

"That must be terrible. Also, I have a question. Are you two worried about dying, since you're already dead?" She asked.

"Well, there's not much that can get us. The only thing that I can think of at the moment is one of Luigi's old vacuums. But I doubt he carries those around anymore. Needless to say though, we don't feel cocky, and feel just as scared as everyone else does." He replied. "I'm worried about this one over here, though. He gets into trouble a lot, it seems." King Boo said, rubbing Boo's head. The three chuckled, and turned to look at Bowser and Mario, who started hugging.

They looked surprised. The two arch enemies... being friendly? That's pretty new.

Another screech went off, diverting their attention back to whatever was making that noise.

"We should stay here. Sounds like it's dangerous out there." Everyone agrees, and settles down for the night ahead of them.

* * *

Peach and Dry Bones led their group to the clearing by the lake from earlier. The campgrounds weren't too too far from here. As they walked closer, they heard a sudden screeching noise come from elsewhere, followed by another a few seconds after the other one stopped.

Unaware of what that could be, the group kept their eyes peeled.

Walking a bit further, a couple people stopped by the lake to examine the bottom of it. Luigi began to explain to Rosalina and Dixie Kong where they came from earlier. They caught back up to the group after, where Peach pulled Daisy aside.

"So, tell me what happened with your group back there?" She asked.

Daisy was hesitant, but then she began.

"So, when we were up there, I noticed the ledge, and we went down there. Upon walking a bit further into the cave, the opening shut solid tight right behind us, and then the intercom we heard earlier told us we needed to go through the doors and complete trials. Made sense why Donkey Kong's was the only one that wasn't dangerous. He probably did nothing. Diddy Kong failed his and we're sure he drowned in acid."

She paused for a second, shedding a tear. "I dealt with snakes, Waluigi dealt with a shark, and Birdo had to murder innocent animals. Afterwards, we got thrown into a labyrinth, and at first, DK tried to get us into this room with a 'clue.' In the end, we noticed and foiled his plan to get one of us crushed, perhaps. Later on, we saw this creature, and when we hid from it, it left. Afterwards, we got to a set of doors, and we opened the wrong one, which set the creature after us. We almost were out the escape door when Birdo tripped, and DK told me to ditch her. Thankfully, I didn't, and saved her. Then, there was this tunnel, and when we exited it, we slept, and then what happened earlier explains the rest."

Daisy looked terrified. Peach smiled at her, and told her how scared she was in the waterway's facility.

"It's alright to be scared. We're in such a dangerous situation." Daisy smiled.

After a bit more of walking, Peach noticed a shadow slip into the trees.

"Over there! That must be the culprit! After them!" And with that, they took off running towards the figure.

* * *

Just a little longer. It will be gone soon. He just needs to stay quiet just a bit longer. It is losing interest in the noise around it.

* * *

Eventually, Peach's group followed the shadow into a clearing... the campgrounds. It was nowhere to be seen.

"What? How could we lose them?!" She yelled. Suddenly, the same ear-splitting screeches came from earlier. A lot of them. It seemed dangerous to leave the campground.

* * *

When nightfall came, eyes began to illuminate in the shadows around the camp. Narrowed. Staring right at the group.

And what do you know... there was the muffled voice. It seemed like it was coming from everywhere.

"Nice to see you fell straight into my trap. Hope you enjoy my surprise. Don't worry, the eyes aren't the surprise. They won't hurt you... as long as you stay away from them." Laughter echoed from everywhere, and Peach could smell something nauseating.

Out of nowhere, Dixie Kong, Luigi, and Rosalina hit the ground with thuds, light snores following soon after.

Toad, Toadette, and and Waluigi fell down too. Snores followed soon after with them as well. The remaining four couldn't piece together what this fume was.

Yoshi, Daisy, Peach, and Dry Bones all backed up together. "It's sleeping gas!-" Dry Bones yelled before falling to the ground, Yoshi and Daisy falling soon after. Peach looked around at her sleeping friends, not breathing. She wouldn't have this. She couldn't let this... let this happen... She needed to... save them...

The last thing she saw before falling asleep was that same shadow from earlier walking towards them.


	9. The Beginning Of The End (Chapter 8)

**We enter the home-stretch soon.**

* * *

 **List of Characters:**

 ** _Birdo  
_** ** _Boo  
_** ** _Bowser_** ** _  
_** ** _Daisy  
_** ** _Dixie Kong_** ** _  
_** ** _Dry Bones  
_** ** _King Boo  
_** ** _Koopa Troopa  
_** ** _Luigi  
_** ** _Mario  
_** ** _Pauline  
_** ** _Peach  
_** ** _Rosalina  
_** ** _Toad  
_** ** _Toadette  
_** ** _Waluigi  
_** ** _Yoshi_**

* * *

Wake up.

* * *

Come on, get up.

* * *

There's no time for this.

* * *

Get up, Peach, do it for me!

* * *

Peach jarred awake, jumping and hitting her head on something. She groaned in pain. She looked around her. It looked plastic-like. Wait... was she... _floating? Oh my god!_

She looked down. Her head was encased in a cube. Barely big enough to fit her head. She looked around. The same thing had been done to all of her friends. She started to scream, panic, and thrash about.

"Help, oh my god! Help! Help! Someone help me! Someone help _us!_ "She yelled, expecting someone to respond. But, of course, nobody came to their aid. She looked below. There was water below. Her hands were all tied up behind her back. She could turn her head around enough to see there was something shining behind her. She looked up and saw a keyhole on the top of her box. It was a key behind her. She tried to unwrap her arms. She eventually untied her arms, and tried reaching for the key. She couldn't grab it.

 **"Not so fast, Peach!"** A voice laughed manically through the ever-so-familiar intercom. This caused everyone else to wake up and have the same reaction as Peach. Screams filled the air.

"Oh my god, where are we!?" Daisy cried.

"This seems very implausible!" Rosalina yelled, gripping the rope tightly.

Toad and Toadette cried out in their high-pitched voices. The others screamed.

 **"Are you done yet?"** The intercom said impatiently. **"I see you've already figured out how this works, Peach. I'll explain anyways. You have 3 minutes to untie your hands and grab the key behind you to unlock your box. Once it's unlocked, you'll fall down below into the water. Out of sight of being able to see your friends, of course. After 3 minutes, the water that will fill up in your box will reach the top, and you'll barely have enough time to get out of there before you drown. Sound good?"**

"No, no no! It sounds t-t-terrible!" Luigi cried.

 **"I really don't care. And Peach, your key is harder to reach since you didn't wait for my explanation."** Peach cringed. **"3 minutes start now. Try not to die!"** The voice said, laughing as usual, before closing the intercom's audio.

With that, the water began to start filling up in the tanks. The screams grew even louder. That didn't stop the time from ticking. Peach reached for her key. She couldn't grab it. She tried over and over, but it was just out of reach.

Over beside her, Rosalina had gotten a grasp of her key and grabbed on her box to unlock it. However, instead of falling like instructed, she pulled herself up to the top. Yoshi and Birdo looked over at her, since they were right next to her.

"Rosalina, what are you doing!?"

"Saving you!" She replied, jumping on top of Yoshi's box with her key in her hand. She unlocked his box, jumping to Birdo's and doing the same. Attempting to jump to the next box, she loses her footing and falls down after Birdo and Yoshi.

Beside Peach, Daisy manages to unlock her box, attempting Rosalina's trick. However, she's too slow and falls.

 **1:30.**

Toadette manages to escape, followed by Waluigi and Dixie Kong. Dry Bones got out after.

Only Toad, Peach, and Luigi are left in the air.

 **0:45.**

Luigi gets his box unlocked.

 **0:30.**

Toad gets his key in his hands, and looks over at the princess, who is still struggling to grab her own.

"Princess!" He shouts. Peach is in tears. "This is it for me, Toad! Tell everyone I'm sorry that I got them all stuck out here!" She shouts back. Toad's tears well up in his eyes.

"Take my key!" He yells one more time. Before Peach can respond, he tosses the key at her. Peach manages to catch the key.

 **0:10.**

"I'll... never... forget you, Toad!" She cries out. She unlocks her box and yells as she falls. "You were always my favorite!" Eventually, she disappears. Toad smiles and cries as the water fills up.

* * *

Boo awakes while the others are still sleeping. Yawning, Boo floats around for a second before noticing nearby bushes rustling. Curious, he flies high above the bush to see what it is, and sees nothing.

"Wonder what that could've possible been...?" He mutters to himself as he floats down to the ground, unaware of the ghost vacuum right behind him.

* * *

Rosalina looked up as Peach splashed down into the water. Seeing her in tears, she and Daisy went over to her to ask her what's wrong.

"T-Toad..." Was all she could mutter. Rosalina turned around and noticed that Toad was the only one missing.

"Peach, it's going to be alright..." She told her, trying to comfort her into feeling better. After a bit of coaxing from everyone, Peach stood up with a smile on her face, opening the door outside. Yoshi, Birdo, Dry Bones and Daisy followed.

Rosalina sat down. She began to ask how everyone left was doing.

"Luigi, how are you holding up?"

"Well, I really miss my brother. The only reason I came is because he wanted me to in the first place. The fact that he's out there, and could possibly be dead really scares. He's my brother, and I look up to him. I would be so sad if he was gone. But, myself... I'm holding up fine, I guess... That was scary. I feel really bad for Peach and Toad, especially."

"Same." Toadette chimed in, sniffling. "He was one of Peach's best toads. He was also my favorite. I'm really going to miss having him around. Especially since I can't mess with him anymore. I should've just been straightforward and told him how much he meant to me..."

"I can relate... Donkey Kong is gone, and Diddy is gone too... I have nobody except Pauline. But, for all I know, she could be gone, too. I don't have anyone anymore." Dixie Kong said. "It's just hard losing someone you care about..."

"Losing Wario was very tough as well, weeh... My pal in mischief being gone like that honestly makes me feel like my past acts were wrong, now. Doing mean things isn't something that you should do. Wario got his karma, I guess. It's only a matter of time before karma takes me from this planet as well." Waluigi replied.

Rosalina looked surprise. "Don't say that! You're going to get out of here for his sake. you don't want his death to be in vein, do you?"

"Of course not. I just feel as if in these circumstances that we all won't make it out alive. I guess it's only fair if I go down as well." He said.

Rosalina pulled everyone into a group hug. "We're going to make it out of this. Just be positive." With a last nod, the 5 of them exited, where Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, and Birdo were waiting.

"We should go look for Bowser's group and head west from the campgrounds and see if that's where the exit to the forest is." Peach told them all. Without hesitation, the remaining 9 of them set out to go find Bowser's group.

* * *

Mario awoke next to Bowser and Pauline. Seeing the sunshine, he awoke Pauline and Bowser physically and woke King Boo verbally. Together, the 4 of them looked exhausted.

"I need coffee..." Pauline said, sniffling.

"Wait, where's Boo?" King Boo responded, not paying attention to Pauline's previous comment.

"Where could he have gone?" Bowser responded.

"I don't know. He was right here last night!"

"He probably is out looking for something." Pauline said, trying to comfort the King.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right... Let's go look for him." He said.

The 4 of them got up to go look for boo.

* * *

Peach neared the clearing by the lake they'd been to a few times. With the chain chomps, and when they were chasing down the shadow that got them trapped in the camp. Daisy opened up the portfolio Donkey Kong had carried. Thankfully, she kept it from getting wet. She opened the page of the hit list and looked among it, trying to figure out who the killer could be.

Stepping out into the clearing, they could see Bowser and the others. They rushed over to each other, intertwining for what seemed like the 1000th time. Daisy looked at the objectives.

 **Group 2 Trials.  
Group 3 Waterway.  
Chain Chomps.  
Water Box Trap.  
Earthquake Trap.**

"Wait, guys, the objective list says that there's an Earthquake trap?" She told the others curiously. "How did I not see this before?"

Everyone looked over at her as she realized that's what's coming at them next.

 **"Good observation, Daisy! Guess it's time for me to initiate the final trap already. Thought you would've had enough since you just went through one."** The group of 14 looked horrified.

 **"Oh, and King Boo, Boo's gone. I got him. Wario, Diddy Kong, Toad, Koopa Troopa, and Donkey Kong are gone too."** A look of grief struck King Boo's face. The voice chuckled.

 **"By the way, one of those is a bluff. One of them is still alive."** King Boo had hope.

 **"Anyways, this time. You _won't_ escape. Have fun!" **The usual laughter followed, as well as trembles in the ground.

The ground opened up right behind them. They all began running, but it was too fast. One by one, they fell down into the abyss below. Whatever was ahead was not pleasant, to say the least.

King Boo looked around him. He's isolated. Off in the distance, he could see someone. He needed to get their help.

If he didn't, then everyone else would die.


End file.
